Install a phone jack HELP! 1

[threehappypenguins]

My in-laws have the Obi202 which I previously plugged into their wall jack which powered the whole house with VOIP. Don't worry... I know to disconnect the lines at the NID box outside so it doesn't fry anything! They recently moved and wanted all their ugly contraptions (modems and adapter) down the the basement so that it's more hidden. However, there were absolutely no phone jacks down the the basement (odd). I did, however, see that the previous people had DSL (my in-laws opted to get cable internet). At the breaker panel, there is this bizarre contraption that I assumed had to do with the previous DSL hook-up, however, all the phone jacks in the house are also wired to this thing. Please see this picture:

So I figured I would install a new phone jack by using one of the spare empty green and red slots. I had a spare phone cable with the plastic jacks on the end laying around which I assumed to be CAT 5 (white with blue stripes, blue, white with orange stripes, orange), and I clipped off the ends and wired the white with blue stripes into the green slot and the blue into the red slot. I had an RJ-45 jack so I wired it the same way... white with blue stripes to the green and the blue to the red in the RJ-45 jack. My in-laws mixed up all the phone wires (the wires that connect the phones or adapter to the wall jacks, and I can't remember what the original phone wire was that hooked the Obi up to a phone or the wall jack. So I used one that I could see was green, red, black and yellow inside the plastic end clip plug thing.

Well... it worked... sort of. It powered all the jacks in the house, but it refused to hang up. As soon as I plug it in, the Obi would perpetually be "off hook."

I accessed the Obi via IP address, and saw the following status when the Obi was plugged into the phone jack I wired:

State: Off Hook
LoopCurrent: 20 mA
VBAT: 45 V
TipRingVoltage: -36 V


When it’s unplugged or on the hook, the status looks like this:
State: On Hook
LoopCurrent: 0 mA
VBAT: 58 V (sometimes 59)
TipRingVoltage: 45 V


When I have the phone hooked directly up to the adapter, and the phone is on (physically off the hook), the status is this:
State: Off Hook
LoopCurrent: 20 mA
VBAT:16 V
TipRingVoltage: 6 V

What am I doing wrong? I thought that I could connect CAT 3 wires with CAT 5, and use an RJ-45 jack? Maybe not? Please help! And if someone could please tell me what that contraption is called (in the picture) that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jeffmoss26]

That looks like a DSL splitter. Incoming feed from the telco is on the bottom right. Red/green twisted pair goes up around to the top (out of the picture), red/green set of rockers is to the phones in the house, white/blue pair marked DATA is a dedicated jack for a DSL modem. This is so you don't have to put filters at every location.

jeff moss

 

[DHRoger]

1. Please ensure your connection to the outside world (old POTS) is indeed unplugged/disconnected. You should have zero volts across the red/green going to your house wiring.
2. You state 'spare empty green and red slots'. You may want to ensure there is no voltage there with nothing plugged in. Not all of the cross-connects are self evident or visible on some NID's.
What I'm seeing on the right side of the pic is the drop wire coming in from the street, white/blue going into a modular splice and white/orange going to a ground stud. The red/green are then feeding the demarc jack on the left. If this is true, you may still have the outside world connected. Even though you don't get dial tone, there may be battery present. (see point 1 above)

 

[threehappypenguins]

I will test with my voltmeter then. They have an NID similar to this one:

I unhooked everything you could possibly unhook. I unplugged both lines, and disconnected both lines from the screws, taped them up each separately with electrical tape, and put a warning on it (in case some telecompany guy decides to reconnect everything). So even after all this, I could still be getting a signal from the outside? I guess it would be completely bypassing the NID? What would I look for? another random phone wire coming from the street and into the house? Should I just disconnect the red and green on the right shown in the picture just in case?

I am wondering if the problem was happening because I used a modular cord (with the braided copper wires) and not an FT4 phone wire (with the solid copper core).

 

[threehappypenguins]

Does this picture help more?

 

[DHRoger]

The latest pic shows more clearly the red/green at right from the outside drop wire disappearing behind the jack on the left side. That is possibly still delivering voltage somewhere. A voltmeter will reveal that. Check for both AC and DC.
If you have a spare phone jack, i believe I'd totally bypass the NID, terminate all the red/green (blue/white) wires to the same two screws. You might want to reconnect the wires supplying the house jacks one pair at a time to rule out a damaged wire/jack or something else still plugged in to a jack (the old answering machine in the workshop buried under catalogs)and seizing the line.

 

[threehappypenguins]

Thanks for your help! I was able to get it working. You were right. The red and green wires going from the right to the left were interfering. So I took out the red and green from the top of the right contraption and the blue and white ones from the bottom of it out, and now everything works perfectly and the adapter is able to power all the phone jacks in the house with voip.

I also installed the jack with proper phone wire, and not a modular phone cord.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Glad you got it working!

jeff moss